Katherine was a beautiful, perfect baby for the first year ofher life. Then, without warning, she changed forever. She startedcrossing her eyes. She cried at night for hours at a time and couldnot be soothed. She stopped saying words, stopped crawling, andbegan what would become a lifelong habit of wringing her hands.Hospital visits and consultations with doctors offered no answersto the mystery. Soon Katherine slipped away to a place her motherand father could never reach. In Keeping Katherine, Susan Zimmermann tells the story of herlife with her daughter Katherine, who has Rett syndrome, adevastating neurological disorder. Writing with honesty and candor,Zimmermann chronicles her personal journey to accept the changeddynamic of her family; the strain of caring for a special needschild and the pressure it placed on her marriage, career, andrelationship with her parents; the dilemma of whether Kat would bebetter cared for in a group home; and most important, the alteredreality of her daughter’s

Discoveredintheatticinwhichshespentthelastyearsofherlife,AnneFrank'sremarkablediaryhassincebecomeaworldclassic apowerfulreminderofthehorrorsofwarandaneloquenttestamenttothehumanspirit.In1942,withNazisoccupyingHolland,athirteen-year-oldJewishgirlandherfamilyfledtheirhomeinAmsterdamandwentintohiding.Forthenexttwoyears,untiltheirwhereaboutswerebetrayedtotheGestapo,theyandanotherfamilylivedcloisteredinthe"SecretAnnex"ofanoldofficebuilding.Cutofffromtheoutsideworld,theyfacedhunger,boredom,theconstantcrueltiesoflivinginconfinedquarters,andtheever-presentthreatofdiscoveryanddeath.InherdiaryAnneFrankrecordedvividimpressionsofherexperiencesduringthisperiod.Byturnsthoughtful,moving,andamusing,heraccountoffersafascinatingcommentaryonhumancourageandfrailtyandacompellingself-portraitofasensitiveandspiritedyoungwomanwhosepromisewastragicallycutshort.

A chance encounter in Spain in 1959 brought young Irishreporter Valerie Danby-Smith face to face with Ernest Hemingway.The interview was awkward and brief, but before it ended somethinghad clicked into place. For the next two years, Valerie devoted herlife to Hemingway and his wife, Mary, traveling with them throughbeloved old haunts in Spain and France and living with them duringthe tumultuous final months in Cuba. In name a personal secretary,but in reality a confidante and sharer of the great man’s secretsand sorrows, Valerie literally came of age in the company of one ofthe greatest literary lions of the twentieth century. Five years after his death, Valerie became a Hemingway herselfwhen she married the writer’s estranged son Gregory. Now, at last,she tells the story of the incredible years she spent with thisextravagantly talented and tragically doomed family. In prose of brilliant clarity and stinging candor, Valerie evokesthe magic and the pathos of Papa Hemingway

Homer Hickam won the praise of critics and the devotion ofreaders with his first two memoirs set in the hardscrabble miningtown of Coalwood, West Virginia. The New York Times crownedhis first book, the #1 national bestseller October Sky , “aneloquent evocation ... a thoroughly charming memoir.” And People called The Coalwood Way , Hickam’s follow-up to October Sky , “a heartwarmer ... truly beautiful andhaunting.”

In a masterly act of literary transformation, celebratednovelist Hanan al-Shaykh re-creates the dramatic life and times ofher mother, Kamila. Married at a young age against her will, Kamila soon fellhead-over-heels in love with another man—and was thus forced tochoose between her children and her lover. As the narrative unfoldsthrough the years—from the bazaars, cinemas and apartments of 1930sBeirut to its war-torn streets decades later—we follow thispassionate woman as she survives the tragedies and celebrates thetriumphs of a life lived to the very fullest.

He had a number one hit at eighteen. He was a millionaire withhis own record label at twenty-two. He was, according to Tom Wolfe,“the first tycoon of teen.” Phil Spector owned pop music. From theCrystals, the Ronettes (whose lead singer, Ronnie, would become hissecond wife), and the Righteous Brothers to the Beatles (togetherand singly) and finally the seventies punk icons The Ramones,Spector produced hit after hit. But then he became pop music's mostfamous recluse. Until one day in the spring of 2007, when his namehit the tabloids, connected to a horrible crime. In Tearing Downthe Wall of Sound , Mick Brown, who was the last journalist tointerview Spector before his arrest , tells the full story ofthe troubled musical genius.

In 1955, Garcia Marquez was working for El Espectador, a newspaper in Bogota, when in February of that year eight crew members of the Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were washed overboard and disappeared. Ten days later one of them turned up, barely alive, on a deserted beach in northern Colombia. This book, which originally appeared as a series of newspaper articles, is Garcia Marquez's account of that sailor's ordeal. Translated by Randolf Hogan.

From the moment of its publication in 1977, Haywire was anational sensation and a #1 bestseller, a celebrated Hollywoodmemoir of a glittering family and the stunning darkness that lurkedjust beneath the surface. Brooke Hayward was born into the most enviable of circumstances.The daughter of a famous actress and a successful Hollywood agent,she was beautiful, wealthy, and living at the very center of themost privileged life America had to offer. Yet at twenty-three herfamily was ripped apart. Who could have imagined that this magicallife could shatter, so conclusively, so destructively? BrookeHayward tells the riveting story of how her family wenthaywire.

Pat Summitt, head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, is aphenomenon in women's basketball. Her ferociously competitive teamshave won three NCAA championships in a row--1996, 1997, and 1998.The 1997-98 Lady Vols posted a historic 39-0 record, prompting theNew York Times, among many others, to proclaim them "the bestwomen's college team ever." Now, in this groundbreakingmotivational book, Pat Summitt presents her formula for success,which she calls the "Definite Dozen System." In each of the book'stwelve chapters, Summitt talks about one of the system'sprinciples--such as responsibility, discipline, and loyalty--andshows how you apply it to your own situation. Along the way, sheuses her own remarkable story as a vehicle for explaining howanyone can transform herself through ambition. Pat Summitt willmotivate you to achieve in sports, business, and the most importantgame of all--life.

In Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E.Persico explores FDR’s romance with Lucy Rutherfurd. Persico’sprovocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by arevealing range of sources, including never-before-publishedletters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurd’s estate that attest tothe intensity of the affair, which lasted much longer than waspreviously acknowledged. FDR’s connection with Lucy also creates anopportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at theother women in FDR’s life. We come to see more clearly how FDR’sinfidelity contributed to Eleanor Roosevelt’s eventualtransformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatestAmerican woman of her century; how FDR’s strong-willed motherhelped to strengthen his resolve in overcoming personal and publicadversity; and how both paramours and platonic friends completedthe world that FDR inhabited. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd andthe other women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico renders

As an actor, he seduces us with his tough-guy charm. As adirector and producer, he amazes us with his artistry and technicalsavvy. As a Hollywood icon, Clint Eastwood, one of film sgreatest living legends, represents some of the finest cinematicachievements in the history of American cinema. In American Rebel, bestselling author and acclaimed filmhistorian Marc Eliot examines the ever-exciting, often-tumultuousarc of Clint Eastwood s life and career. Unlike pastbiographers, Eliot writes with unflinching candor aboutEastwood s highs and lows, his artistic successes andfailures, and the fascinating, complex relationship between hislife and his craft. Eliot s prodigious research revealshow a college dropout and unambitious playboy rose to fame asHollywood s "sexy rebel," eventually and against all oddsbecoming a star in the Academy pantheon as a multiple Oscar winner.Spanning decades, American Rebelcovers the best ofEastwood s oeuvre, films that have fast become Americanclassics– Fistful of Doll

Originally a New Deal liberal and aggressive anticommunist,Senator Eugene McCarthy famously lost faith with the Democraticparty over Vietnam. His stunning challenge to Lyndon Johnson in the1968 New Hampshire primary inspired young liberals and was one ofthe greatest electoral upsets in American history. But the 1968election ultimately brought Richard Nixon and the Republican Partyto power, irrevocably shifting the country’s political landscape tothe right for decades to come. Dominic Sandbrook traces one of the most remarkable andsignificant lives in postwar politics, a career marked by bothcourage and arrogance. Sandbrook draws on extensive new research –including interviews with McCarthy himself – to show convincinglyhow Eugene McCarthy’s political experience embodies the largerdecline of American liberalism after World War II. These weretumultuous times in American politics, and Sandbrook vividlycaptures the drama and historical significance through his intimateportrait of a singularly

In this beautifully written and profoundly stirringautobiography, Geoffrey Wolff unravels the enigma of hisGatsby-esque father, an inveterate liar who falsified everythingbut love. 8 pages of black-and-white photos.

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. To thelegions of golf fans around the world, Palmer is a charismatichero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and stillgoing strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, thereis the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and truegrit in the face of personal adversity. Writing with the humor and candor that are as much his trademarkas his unique golf swing, Palmer narrates the deeply moving storyof his life both on and off the links. He recounts the lovingrelationship he shared with his father, "Deacon" Palmer, the coursesuperintendent and head professional at the Latrobe Country Clubwhere young Arnie developed his game, his friendships and rivalrieswith golf greats, his enduringly happy marriage with Winnie, hislegendary charges to triumph and titanic disasters, and his valiantbattle against cancer and remarkable recovery. Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of thetwentieth century

With this collection of short and fascinating biographicalpieces, the award-winning biographer of Coleridge and Shelleyoffers a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious art ofbiography. When researching, Richard Holmes has often become captivated byfigures peripheral to his main subject, literary forays that hecouldn’t resist. These tales–the forbidden love of John StuartMill, the bizarre novel of Oscar Wilde’s tragic grand-uncle, Scottand Zelda Fitzgerald’s nightmarish yet cathartic final trip toParis–are part of what comprises Sidetracks, a marvelously originalthat includes letters and travelogues, radio plays, essays, andminature biographies. This book is a rare literary feast and anexploration of the creative processes of one of our most preeminentbiographers.

“This book is a life-changer. Thomas Cahill hasshown—through the extraordinary life of one man—that God workseverywhere and can bring the most beautiful soul to maturity ineven the most horrifying circumstances. If you read his story youwill never forget Dominique Green, nor will you ever feel the sameway about our courts, our prisons, and our criminal justicesystem.” —Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead ManWalking “Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end indespair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capitalpunishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace.”—Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Afric "A deeply moving narrative about a man transformed as he faced anunjust execution." —James H. Cone, author of Black Theologyand Black Power “I expect A Saint on Death Row to become a classic in the growingstruggle to cleanse this nation finally of the sin of the deathpenalty.” —Jonathan Kozo

Jeanne Marie Laskas had a dream of fleeing her otherwise happyurban life for fresh air and open space — a dream she woulddiscover was about something more than that. But she never expectedher fantasy to come true — until a summer afternoon’s drive in thecountry. That’s when she and her boyfriend, Alex — owner of Marley thepoodle — stumble upon the place she thought existed only in herdreams. This pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm with an Amish barn,a chestnut grove, and breathtaking vistas is real ... and for sale.And it’s where she knows her future begins. But buying a postcard — fifty acres of scenery — and living onit are two entirely different matters. With wit and wisdom, Laskaschronicles the heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of thecolorful two- and four-legged creatures she encounters onSweetwater Farm. Against a backdrop of brambles, a satellite dish, and sheep,she tells a tender, touching, and hilarious tale about life, love,and the unexpected complic

A German soldier during World War II offers an inside look atthe Nazi war machine, using his wartime diaries to describe how aruthless psychopath motivated an entire generation of ordinaryGermans to carry out his monstrous schemes.

Amid the aristocratic ranks of the Confederate cavalry, NathanBedford Forrest was untutored, all but unlettered, and regarded asno more than a guerrilla. His tactic was the headlong charge,mounted with such swiftness and ferocity that General Shermancalled him a "devil" who should "be hunted down and killed if itcosts 10,000 lives and bankrupts the treasury." And in a war inwhich officers prided themselves on their decorum, Forresthabitually issued surrender-or-die ultimatums to the enemy andoften intimidated his own superiors. After being in command at thenotorious Fort Pillow Massacre, he went on to haunt the South asthe first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Now this epic figure is restored to human dimensions in anexemplary biography that puts both Forrest's genius and hissavagery into the context of his time, chronicling his rise fromfrontiersman to slave trader, private to lieutenant general,Klansman to -- eventually -- New South businessman and racialmoderate. Unflinching in its analysis

A thrilling page-turner of epic proportions, Tom Reiss’spanoramic bestseller tells the true story of a Jew who transformedhimself into a Muslim prince in Nazi Germany. Lev Nussimbaumescaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan and, as “EssadBey,” became a celebrated author with the enduring novel Ali andNino as well as an adventurer, a real-life Indiana Jones with afatal secret. Reiss pursued Lev’s story across ten countries andfound himself caught up in encounters as dramatic and surreal–andsometimes as heartbreaking–as his subject’s life.